Islamic Holy War Warns U.S. Against Retaliation for Hijack

A radical Shia Muslim terrorist group in Lebanon threatened “more blows” against the United States if it attempts to retaliate for the TWA hijacking, in which Americans were held hostage for 16 days.

Islamic Jihad (Islamic Holy War) delivered a typed statement to a Western news agency Tuesday, calling the June 14 hijacking “a great victory for the oppressed” that ended with the “clear submission by America and Israel to the demands of the fighting hijackers.”

It said the United States “will shoulder the responsibility for any retaliation” for the hijacking, which ended Sunday with the release of 39 American captives.

The statement gave no idea of the group’s plans, but said: “We will chase the Americans and strike at their interests in Lebanon, the Arab world and across the world. . . . New fighters of our lovers of martyrdom have been prepared to direct more blows at the right time against the United States.”

The hijackers were extremist Shia Muslims, believed to belong to the fundamentalist organization Hezbollah (Party of God). Most of the American hostages were under control of the more moderate Shia militia Amal.

Islamic Holy War, believed to be a name used by several extremist Shia groups, claims to hold most of the seven Americans kidnaped in Beirut and has been blamed for suicide truck-bomb attacks that killed more than 260 U.S. servicemen and other Americans in 1983.

The statement ridiculed the U.S. threat to close down the Beirut airport, calling it a “hilarious circus performance by the clown Ronald Reagan.”

Lebanon’s warring Christian and Muslim factions united to protest the Reagan Administration’s declaration that it has undertaken “legal action and diplomatic steps” to close the airport to international travel because it is a haven for terrorism.

Former President Suleiman Franjieh, a Christian, urged the Lebanese government to sever all links with Washington.

Premier Rashid Karami, a Sunni Muslim, said: “America’s policies are based on aggression and oppression. Lebanon cannot remain silent toward such bold-faced aggression and there are measures we are going to take in response.”

A Foreign Ministry official said Lebanon’s ambassador to Washington, Abdallah Buhabib, has been ordered to lodge a formal protest.

In London, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said she favors joining the Reagan call for an international ban on flights to and from Beirut as long as its airport serves as a base for possible terrorist activity. Answering questions in Parliament, she said, “It is intolerable that Beirut airport should be used to mount terrorist attacks outside Lebanon.”